Horwitz opens Confederates in the Attic with an anecdote about his grandfather, Isaac Moses Perski, who “fled Czarist Russia as a teenage draft dodger” (3) on his way to arriving in Manhattan and beginning a new life as an immigrant in America. Horwitz goes on to describe his grandfather’s strange fascination with the American Civil War, such that even as a penniless newcomer to America, he purchased “The Photographic History of the Civil War” (4). Horwitz cites his grandfather as the impetus for his own curiosity for the conflict.

After returning to the United States after an extended period abroad, Horwitz and his wife moved into a house near the Blue Ridge Mountains, where one morning they are unexpectedly woken up by the sound of rifle fire from a Civil War reenactment. This coincidental event leads him to encounter a series of “hardcore” (7) Civil War reenactors, or “living historians” (10) who invite him to accompany them on one of their outings. Intrigued, Horwitz takes them up on their offer, and he spends an evening “spooning” (13) out in the woods to attempt to recreate the true experience of Civil War soldiers.